I Wonder if Ira Glass Would Go Running With Me...

Okay, screw running talk, I just did the coolest thing ever. I saw Ira Glass. Ira Glass. My idol. No joke. I've been listening to This American Life for years and haven't missed an episode since I started. I can't get enough of it. It's accompanied me on many a run and kept me from going absolutely apeshit when the subway's broken or people won't move into the train (as in, it calms me down). It doesn't hurt that Ira has one of the greatest (dare I say, sexiest? Too old for that to be acceptable?) voices around. Which reminds me of a video I saw of him back in June. The best. And apparently he plays PlayStation, which makes him triply cool.

Anyway, to make a long story long, TAL tweeted about a mysterious event to take place in Brooklyn tonight and asked if anyone was interested in going. Interested in going?! Hell yeah I'm interested, I'd sell my kidneys to go! Do we even have more than one kidney? Doesn't matter, you can have my firstborn's too. And, mind you, I didn't even know Ira was going to be there. I was shocked when he walked to the front of the room and started talking, literally inches from me (yeah, we were sitting in the front-once a suck-up, always a suck-up). Of course I turned beet red and just sat there terrified he would make eye contact with me but secretly wishing he would make eye contact with me, see the brilliance in my face, and ask me to work for him. Never mind that I'd be terrible at that job. They could take me on as a charity case or something. Anything.

I can't say what we did in there since I signed a confidentiality agreement and am officially hot sh-t, but I can say it was awesome and I expect great things from the people involved. I also hope I get to do more cool stuff like that. That's the reason I was excited to live in New York, super cool hip events no one but me knows about, all day all night. Unfortunately I'm not cool and don't know where these things happen. But tonight's little bit of awesomeness will make me hesitate before insulting New York for a few weeks, or at least until the next time the express train runs slower than the local when I have to be somewhere (WHICH HAPPENED TONIGHT-why does this always happen to me?!?!?!).

Now that I've got my crazy stalker fangirl talk out of the way, let's talk about my run today! I didn't make it back to Central Park as I had hoped because I didn't think I'd have enough time. Instead I got off the L at 1st Ave and ran up 1st to my work, which I think is roughly 3 1/2 miles. I wish I could tell you specifically but no, my phone is still being a little bit-h. For whatever reason it just hasn't been able to pick up the signal the past couple of days. I wonder if I need to upgrade it or something... It was nice and chilly out, just the way I like it, and I felt like I was moving pretty well. I actually think that going up First is more of a grunt than most of the hills in CP-no, not as steep as the north woods or whatever they're called, but overall more strenuous then the rest of East Drive since it's a continuous uphill for multiple miles. I ran for about 31 minutes so definitely did at least 3 miles, and probably more like 3 1/2. Tomorrow's run calls for 30 minutes, so even if my phone is still being the worst, I can do the run properly. It makes me uneasy not knowing exactly how far I went. I always assume I've done less than I'm supposed to even when I run for way longer than it takes me to run that distance. It's a sort of neurosis. I took this gem in my work's bathroom afterward:

You're probably all like "Jean, take that shirt off, wash it,

you're disgusting-are you wearing it inside out?"

and I'd have to agree with you on all counts. I'm working on it.

Excited for my run tomorrow! I don't usually run three days in a row because I assume my body will break if I do, but I feel totally fine. Take that, formerly busted hips!

-Jeano

Thanksgiving, Mail-order Brides, and Someone Else's Giveaway

Christ, this blogging thing is harder than I thought. Or maybe it's just that it's been a few days since my last post and I don't feel like recounting my entire awesome Thanksgiving weekend. So what's a wannabe lazy blogger to do? Photos!

It all started with Mt. Rushmore. I mean, a Rushmore float. I kid you not, our bus driver very narrowly missed crashing into one of the floats heading for the Macy's Parade. We were held up for, no joke, 20 minutes while these guys went by. How very responsible of the billions of cops driving by to not warn people WITH A GREEN LIGHT it would be a good idea to stop. But I guess it was cool, in an "I've never watched the parade and don't understand its appeal at all" kind of way. At least my mom was excited about it.

After that, bus, bus, bus, bus. Our bus driver couldn't find South Station in Boston, which was actually pretty amusing. The guy drove around downtown for ages, and I was just about to ask him if he wanted directions when he managed to find it. He really chose the perfect career.

I should clearly be a professional photographer. I was so happy to see snow again! Snow's the sh-t. New York needs to up its snow game, that's for sure. I took this after a long night of bus riding.

Then, the Lewiston bus station and finally, the thriving metropolis of Leeds! Population M's family. We went to her grandparents' house for Thanksgiving dinner.

What an amazing view. Lucky assholes. And no, I didn't use a special hipster filter or anything, I took this through a screen because they have a screen porch. One of the most ingenious things East Coasters have come up with.

I took this and then realized it looked like an American flag. I'm so deep.

Yes, there was running! M and I managed to get a li'l jog in before we headed down to Boston.

This has nothing to do with me not knowing how to take a picture while running and everything to do with me being artistic.

GEESE. Apparently they're really territorial.

M running by my future home. At least, I wish. I don't think M thought it was quite as awesome as I did. Although I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up living in a yurt. This one, to be exact. An old, bitter but content harpy.

After that, we've pretty much got Boston fun times, boozing, eating, walking, boozing, and fun times followed by a hellish return trip back to New York on Sunday night. I was planning to run along the Charles while in Boston but was way too hung over to even consider that. I did have a chance to notice, though, that Bostonians are very active people. There seemed to be way more runners outside than in New York, although it may just be that Bostonites have more places they can run.

Today marked the beginning of my modified "spring training", which will take me through to January when I start my official marathon training. I was supposed to do 3 miles on hills. I accidentally did more like 4 1/2 because my phone was being a b-tch and I ran too far before heading towards work. I hit up Central Park, which rarely happens since I like to wake up as late as possible, but I figured I'd be able to find some hills there. The section I was running on didn't feel very hilly, though. I guess I'm just stronger than I was the last time I ran there. Although after running in Middlebury (aka "what's this flat ground you speak of?" Middlebury) during college it's hard to qualify any part of New York as hilly. I actually really liked being in the park, though. I think I'll head back tomorrow for another three miles.

In blog news, I seem to be a hit in Russia. And by hit, I mean I've had 10 page views from there. All from the website domar.ru? I hope I haven't been put up as a mail-order bride. I also hope I didn't just insult my entire Russian constituency. Whatever the case, спаси́бо прия́тель! I bet that was totally accurate.

I'm a sucker for free things, so I'm also mentioning a giveaway Skinny Runner is doing for Bic Bands. I've wanted some for ages and she said I get two entries if I mention it on my blog. Hopefully it doesn't matter whether you have any readers or not. All you Russians, go enter!

Finally, because I always like seeing pictures of people whose blogs I read, here's my mug:

M just put this up on fb so I thought I'd post it. This is a legally-acquired photo taken after the Annapolis half marathon (AK pride!). I would have kept the other dudettes in the photo but don't think they'd appreciate the possibility of being put up for sale on domar.ru.

Happy trails! Or pavement, or whatever.

Maine-Bound

Ran this morning. About 3.75 miles, mostly uphill to work. It felt pretty good, although my right calf muscle is somehow still sore. According to my phone, I finished at a 9:50 pace, but I was standing still for about a minute after I started it trying to get it into my backpack (I need a Garmin), and I got held up at quite a few stoplights. I'd say it was probably more like 9:30. Not bad! This whole minimalist thing has made me pretty slow, normally my runs are more like 10:30. Once I got to work I did a bit of strength training, although by "bit" I mean hardly anything. The weights at my work's gym are decades old and I have no idea how to use any of them. Give me a machine with everything set up and a picture of what I'm doing and I'll lift. Otherwise, I'll just sit there.

I'm going to spend the next couple of months before I start my official marathon training (January 22-mark it!) trying to build up a bit of speed. Again, "bit" does not mean much. I might try to go from a 10:30 average speed to more like a 9:45, for example. Fast stuff. I'm going to be using this plan from Hal Higdon to tide me over until the actual marathon training, although I'm only going to run 5 days a week and make my long runs slightly longer. I think. Then I'm going to use his "novice 2" 18-week marathon plan. I've already set all my google calendar reminders until the marathon! Nerd.

Heading off to Maine tonight. At 12:15 am. Somehow it's going to take us 6 hours to get to Boston, and then after an hour layover we'll leave for Lewiston and get there around 9:00 am. I still don't get the 6 hours to Boston thing. Whatever. Was debating whether I should try to stay up the whole time or pop a couple of sleeping pills and dream sweet dreams. It'll probably end up being a combination of both. I will be pissed if this weather messes anything up. It seems like it's fine, but I keep seeing all these headlines about another snowpocalypse. East coasters are wimps (yeah, I said it). Stay tuned! Actually, don't, I won't be blogging this weekend, I can tell you that much right now. Happy Thanksgiving!

I didn't end up wearing my new spandex. More practical, fewer stares.

Too Many Clothes, No Mattress

I BOUGHT NEW CLOTHES.

I'm ridiculous. For the longest time, I hated stores like Lululemon. I thought that only people who never actually worked out shopped there, and I thought it was more hardcore to run in a cotton t-shirt. Turns out I'm a huge idiot. The day I first tried on one of their shirts, I felt like I had found my soulmate (if that were legal, of course), and now there's no turning back. Seriously. I've pretty much abandoned all my other shirts, which is gross considering that until tonight I only had two Lulu (short for Lululemon?) shirts. The same shirt, actually. Two different colors. Because when I like something, I really like something. But it's that fabric, luon. It is heavenly. It's like I don't sweat when I wear them, and I'm a huge sweater. Huge. They were a godsend this summer in the revolting New York heat. Like, the only thing keeping me from packing up and moving back to Alaska. I hate hot weather. This is why New York and I don't always get along.

But I digress. I've been wanting to go back to the store for a while now to check out what the Lulu gods have been making me, so I went after hitting up my work's gym. I tried on a bunch of cute stuff, but all of their shirts are so long. I've got a short torso, but jesus. I managed to find a shirt on sale, though, which I like because it's (drumroll) luon, a bit baggy (I seem to sweat less when it hangs off me), and short enough. I also bought some kickass spandex shorts. A great purchase now that winter is coming (that's sarcasm!). I'm a huge fan-they've got a nice waist-band thing that makes me look like I don't have love handles.

I have a problem-here I am buying workout clothes, but I don't even have a mattress. I've been sleeping on the floor, monk-style. I wish I could say there was some noble reason for it, but there's not. I got rid of my last mattress when I moved and haven't bothered to get a new one yet. But who cares, I feel like I'm wrapped in heaven right now. And yes, I'm still wearing them. And I'll be wearing them tomorrow morning for my run. Well, maybe not the spandex. It is 46 degrees, after all. I'm not that crazy...

Pissed Off... and Holidays!

I'm kind of pissed off. It has to do with running so I'm writing about it here. I fully admit to being a back-of-the-middle-of-the-pack runner. I don't like telling people I'm doing a race because I know that, inevitably, they will ask me how it went. When they do this, I always smile and say "It was great!" Nothing more. Of course, that always leads to the follow-up question "What was your time?" Ugh. Double ugh.

This happened yesterday. Someone asked how the race was, and before I could even answer, he asked how fast I ran. I told him, and before I could add the usual "I'm not fast" bit, he said, "That's all? Oh." I think he was trying to make a joke, but seriously? Come on. The funny thing is, these comments often come from non-runners. This guy, for example, couldn't run more than 20 feet without collapsing. His dubious claim to fame is drinking every night, and he's not even good at that. I know this from experience. And when he so quickly insults my running ability and all the work I put into making the transition to minimalist running and building up my mileage again, I'll admit it, I want to punch him in the face. I'll be the first to make fun of myself, to call myself slow, whatever. But when it comes from someone like this douchebag, no f-cking way.

On a happier (and tastier!) note, I made an effort to cook last night. It was a sausage/pasta sort of thing. I got the recipe from this blogger. No, I didn't take a picture. Oops. But I was proud I even attempted the thing. My eating's gone to sh-t the past couple of months, mostly because I moved out of my old apartment at the end of September. I hadn't wanted to stock up on new food the weeks before moving out, then I was crashing on my friend's couch for two weeks, then we didn't have cooking things in our new place (pots/pans at my old place belonged to my roommate)... Then I just lost motivation to cook. During this time, Subway and omelets were my main staples. Not the worst food choices, and things I could probably go on eating until the zombie apocalypse, but after a few weeks at my new place I realized things needed to change. Unfortunately, my discovery of salt bagels threatens to derail this effort, but as last night shows, I'm trying! I even cooked up some broccoli and green beans to eat on the side. Green things are good for you. I used jalapeno chicken sausage from Trader Joe's in the pasta, and although it was delicious, I was awake for a solid hour and a half before falling asleep because it suddenly hit me that I might not have cooked it all the way through. Smart, Jean. But I woke up this morning without food streaming out of every orifice (great visual!), so I guess it was fine.

I'm planning to zone out on the stationary bike after work. I'm really only going because I want to take a shower-it's been a couple of days. Whatever motivates you, right? I think I'll head out for a wee jog tomorrow before leaving to Maine tomorrow night at 12:09 a.m. Yep. That should be fun. I won't forget my camera this time. Well, I'll at least try not to forget my camera. And to think, when I started this blog I was all, "This is great timing because I'm going so many places and will bring my camera everywhere and take pictures of everything and post it for everyone to see and I'll look so interesting!" Fail. I was really hoping to run in Maine, but plans changed so we'll be heading to Boston Friday morning so I'll have to settle for the Charles (#firstworldproblems). I'm determined to not only bring a camera, but also get over my embarrassment of taking pictures of myself and things so this blog will be more interesting. Thank god for having no readers!

Recapping, Capping, Ping, Etc.

Okay, Annapolis Half Marathon recap continuation...

We had been standing near the starting line for probably 25 minutes before the race started around 7:15. During that time, my toes had gone completely numb. The first mile or so I spent mostly hoping they'd warm up. I couldn't tell if the strange-feeling lumps in my shoes were toes or something else (what else? I have no idea. Boulders, maybe). It was seriously trippy. In the beginning, my friends and I ran together. One friend's training had been less than stellar (what a stud!), so she fell back after about a mile. My other friend is actually the person who first got me into running and who showed me that running more than a couple of miles is nowhere near as difficult as it sounds. Running with her is always a blast, so we stayed together for a while, but it became obvious she wanted to run a bit faster than I did, so I fell back some and focused on getting into the groove. I had given her my watch prior to the race, so I have no idea how fast I was going. I probably started a bit slow, but I'm actually really glad I did. In the past, I've always started out way too fast and tried to stick to a very specific pace the entire race, and that always blows up in my face. Always. My plan for this race was to run strong the entire time. In the end, I think I could have run a bit faster, but I definitely fulfilled my one and only goal for the race!

The first few miles of the race looped around the Naval Academy. I think we approached the Academy from every possible direction. My friend had given me what turned out to be a totally inaccurate description of the race course beforehand ("we're going to run along the water the whole time!"), and I was cursing her at this point because it looked like we were going to spend the entire race seeing how many different ways we could circle the Naval Academy. No offense to the Academy (well, a little offense), but that was not my idea of an interesting race. Pretty much the only thing of interest during this part of the race was a girl on a walk of shame-she looked like she was going to sh-t her pants when she saw 3,000 people running towards her. Just as I was considering sprinting ahead to find my friend and smack her on the back of the head for lying to me, our route switched up a little. We weaved through some neighborhoods and onto the main street in town, which was way cute.

Me running on way cute main street. Funny how the photographer so strategically cut out my face. I look like kind of ridiculous, I have to admit. My shirt says "Alaska" on it! I love it.

I had no impression whatsoever of Annapolis before visiting, and was pleasantly surprised at how cute it was. Stupidity admission: I had no idea it was along the water. Water makes any town/city infinitely more interesting. My friend told me after that during this part of the race, an obviously hungover hipster-type stuck her head out of her window and screamed "YOU'RE CRAZY!!" before ducking back inside. She may have had a point-this race started entirely too early for me.

After going through town, we went over some bridge. It was kind of steep, but I was feeling awesome so think I sped up a little. It was at this point that I caught my friend. We chatted for a few minutes before I continued ahead.

Chatting! Sorry, these pictures are cropped totally wrong.

The course continued along a few rolling hills on a highway before we started along a narrow wooded path for an out-and-back. I hate out-and-backs. For whatever reason, I usually lose all motivation on these things. Give me a loop anyday. We ended up doing 2-3 miles on this. It got pretty cramped since there were somany people running the race. It was kind of annoying and made it hard to pass people, which I was doing fairly frequently at this point. But it also made for some seriously cute running when I got stuck behind the cutest, tiniest little boy running the race. He was running in all-black spandex and looked like a total boss. He ended up beating me. While I was running I was wondering what I would do if it came down to the two of us on the final stretch; would I hold back and let him be all adorable and beat me, or would my inner bitch come out and force me to run him down? I'd like to say I'd let him win, but that's probably not true. Luckily it didn't come to that since he kicked my ass. I wonder if it's harmful running that much when you're so small? This kid looked like he was 6 or 7 years old, although I could be totally off.

My mind occupied by adorable little things, I suddenly realized I was probably nearing the last quarter of so of the race. I have no idea because, as I mentioned, there were no mile markers. Come on, Annapolis Half Marathon. I took it much better than most of the runners, who seemed to be yelling at anyone even remotely associated with the race. I probably would have joined them, but for the most part it fit in well with my race strategy. If I had known how far I had gone or how much I had left, I probably would have waged some enormous mental battle and collapsed in a heap in the middle of the road. I had no idea how far I'd gone until mile 10 when some guy yelled it at me. Actually, one guy yelled it, and then about 3 minutes later, someone else yelled the same thing. And then someone else. You see why it was confusing? I also heard someone say she was at 1:34 a couple of minutes after we may or may not have hit 10 miles, so of course I immediately wondered if I could possibly aim for sub-2:00. I knew that was ridiculously foolish since there was no way I was going to run the final 5k in 26:00, but it definitely sped me up a bit.

It was at this point that I turned on my music. Coincidentally (or maybe not-my running playlist is pathetic, only 10 songs or so), the songs that came up all seemed to have the word "running" in them. I'm sure the lyrics in no way helped me, but it kind of took my mind off the fact that I had sped up significantly. We had to go up the same bridge we had crossed earlier, and this time it was infinitely harder. I assumed the end of the race was just at the other side, but of course, once we got over to the other side someone yelled "Only .6 miles left!" Thanks. Asshole.

The last quarter mile felt like an all-out sprint, but it probably looked more like this guy. The song "fly" by Rihanna came on, and the lyrics sustained me until the finish....

Inner monologue:

"I came to win," (sure, I'm not actually anywhere close to winning, but I guess you could say I'm winning this race) "to fight," (I'm definitely fighting! This feels like shit) "to conquer, to thrive," (yeah, sure, that sounds like hippie bullshit, but I can dig it) "I came to win," (again with the winning-I think we established I'm winning this thing) "to survive," (yeah, I'm definitely trying to survive-am I going to puke? I think I'm going to puke. No, Jean, get ahold of yourself! You're almost done!) "to prosper, to thrive," (okay, this is getting to be too much-am I going to puke in front of the race photographers?) "to fly, to fly" (okay, holy shit, there's the finish, I hate this song. You're wearing a fanny-pack, but try to look cool for your finish photo!).

Omg puke.

Omg sleep.

And then it was over! I got my medal,

Medal!

leaned over, and tried not to throw up. The nausea went away pretty quickly, so I hobbled through the different places they were herding us and got out of the crowd to wait for my friends.

We were smart and didn't figure out a place to meet after the race, so I went and sat on a little hill by the porta-potties (great choice, Jean). I had been okay heat-wise during the race, but after a few minutes I thought I was going to die of hypothermia so I swallowed my pride and went and got one of those shiny blanket things. I think those things look ridiculous so had passed one up my first time through, but between dying and looking like a baked potato, I'll take the latter every time. It was actually pretty effective (dammit-they look ridiculous! They also give you sun blindness-that's a thing, right?), so I sat on my little hill for a while until I finally saw people I knew.

After the race, we showered, stuffed ourselves silly at Chick & Ruth's Delly (Man v. Food guy went there!), and passed out for a few hours. We were all walking around like gimps, which felt fantastic. I actually feel great except for the soreness in my calves. This is the first half where my skeleton hasn't felt on the verge of shattering post-race. A success for barefoot-ish running! That was the farthest I had ever run without highly-padded shoes, and I definitely felt better than my friends today. S, though, must be applauded for setting an insane distance record for herself. She had never run farther than 4 1/2 miles. Ever. Maybe not the greatest training strategy, but the fact that she finished, and in 2:41, is pretty amazing. Major props to her!

We took a bus back to New York Sunday morning, and once I got home I set out for 15 minutes of really easy running. I guess that's supposed to aid in recovery since it gets the blood moving. I don't know how much I believe that, but it sounds legit. My calves loosened up nicely while running, but they seized up after I got back. I have a feeling, though, that I'm going to kick recovery's ass and be up and running in no time. I have a marathon to train for! Someday I'll talk about that. But not now. Deal with it.

Full disclosure: I ate 3 bagels yesterday. But only two of them had cream cheese. One was a salt bagel. If my friends were asked to say the first thing that came to mind when they hear my name, they would say salt. No joke. Only recently did I realize a salt bagel's a thing. It's also the day I started eating at least one a week. Don't worry, my grandpa has low blood pressure and has to put salt on everything, so I'll probably have to as well. Right? Right?!?

Apology: I'm failing at the whole photo thing. Will try harder.

Annapolis Half Semi-Recap

2:04:05.

I'd black out my last name, but I don't know how to on a Mac.

Plus, I've got a kickass last name.

I'm no speedy McGee, but I am extremely happy with that time. Like, bowled over. Going into the race, my only goal was to try to stay around a 10:00 mile. Not only did I go quite a bit faster than that (9:28), I was very close to my half marathon PR, which I set two and a half years ago in regular shoes. I raced purely by feel, without a watch and (mostly) without music. And although I was pretty upset there were no mile markers (seriously? I get that this was the inaugural Annapolis Half Marathon, but considering how well it was run, this seems like a huge oversight), for much of the race that was a good thing. I ran completely by feel and because of that, I was able to run a strong, consistent race.

Let me start from the beginning. We had taken a bus to Washington, D.C. on Friday morning. We saw a few monuments (it was my friend's first time in D.C.) and went to the Smithsonian. Did anyone else know it's free to get in there?! Pretty awesome. We saw some African mammals, chowed down,

Thanks, homo neanderthalis!

and neanderthalized ourselves:

Here I am! A beauty, eh?

After we had had our fill, we hopped on a train to Annapolis and drove to some athletic center to pick up our bibs for the race the following day. We also got some pretty neat coats:

This is me post-race, wearing my goodies. I look like an idiot.

Hats have never been my friend.

And by neat, I mean ugly. They looked good on some people (probably 40% of the runners wore them for the race), but mine was big and baggy. And I'm not really a fan of mixing primary colors (in this case, yellow and red). I prefer more earthy tones (aka I'm boring).

After we picked up our stuff, we went next door to this place called Squisito's to eat pizza. "Squisito's" sounds like an American's vague idea of what Italian sounds like (although what do I know? It may actually be uber italian), but it has delicious pizza. Sinfully good. We bought a couple of pies and took them back to the place we were staying, and I absolutely wrecked like half of the chicken pesto pizza. It was so good. I was actually really concerned about my pre-race dinner since I have a knack for choosing the wrong thing and turning my insides to mush, but this turned out really well. I think pizza, which was also my pre-race breakfast, may be my go-to race fuel source from now on. I just have to keep it form becoming my go-to everything fuel source as well...

We went to bed reasonably early and woke up at the buttcrack of dawn to get to the start. It was freezing, and I was smart enough to have forgotten my running capris (or whatever you call those) back in New York. I had thrown a pair of old shorts into my bag "just in case," so ended up wearing those. To make up for the lack of leg coverage, I wore my compression sleeves. I was a sexy, sexy sight at that starting line. I'm sure everyone got a kick out of my shoes. My friend said it looked like I was heading to a dance recital. I like to think I looked more like an elf. Everyone loves elves! I got a few weird looks, but nothing too bad. People can be downright hostile towards the whole barefoot thing, so I was glad to have avoided that.

Like I said, it was freezing. The race started about fifteen minutes late, and while we were waiting my toes went totally numb. We were having a grand old time at the back of the pack (there were supposed to be corrals, but for whatever reason that didn't work out. Everyone was just hanging out in the Naval Academy's parking lot), and shortly before the race started I listened to a pump-up song. Heads-up: not a family-friendly song. And not usually something I would like, but the lyrics make me laugh. Kanye's ridiculous. Once I was sufficiently pumped, we dallied a bit longer until the mob finallly started moving. It was kind of weird, there was no opening announcement, welcome, or anything indicating the race was starting. Maybe we were just too far back to hear it.

I was planning to sum up the entire race in one post, but as I've mentioned before, brevity is not my forte. Buh-bye kids! Stay tuned for more!

I've got awesome screenshot skills.

Annapolis, and Other Ramblings

So about the blog name… I changed it. That name was plain sh-t, even for me. Very hard to say. New name is “Jogging Jeano.” The term “jogging” isn’t the most-loved by runners, but given my less-than-average speed, it’s probably an apt one. Plus it’s an alliteration! Jogging Jean was taken (I’ll have to creep on that blog later), so I added the o because people call me Jeano. Riveting story, I know. Anyway, I’ve told myself that the best way to establish yourself is by constantly changing your name and confusing people, so I think this is a good move.

Here’s my background photo:

Oh hey dad. He'd probably kill me if he knew this was online, he thinks people will be able to steal his credit card information/soul if they find a picture of him.

Probably should have included that in the last post.

Anyway, running. So I leave tomorrow morning on a Chinatown bus to D.C. and will leave to Annapolis shortly after, presumably on a bus. I left all the logistics to my friend just to make things extra exciting. The race is Saturday morning, which is nice because it leaves us plenty of time to explore D.C. (I mean, Annapolis), assuming we don’t die during the race.

Like I said, I’m not going for any world records, just trying to keep to 10:00 miles. That may change depending on how fast my friend wants to run. I’m generally a solo runner since none of my NYC friends run, but I discovered during a 9-miler a few weeks ago in Middlebury, VT (I was there for homecoming-I guess I’m one of those a-holes that won’t let college go) that running with someone else is waaaay more fun. Hungover and tired as I was, it was actually pretty fantastic. It helped that the friend I was running with is a beast and I didn’t want to look like a pansy in front of her. So I think I’m going to stick with my other friend for at least part of this race. I tend to get insanely competitive but also give up as soon as I feel tired, so it’ll be interesting to see which of those totally noncontradictory traits wins out. I ran my first half marathon 3 years ago in Middlebury, and that remains my best half to date. I can’t remember my time exactly, something like 2:03, but it’s the only race I haven’t walked any part of. Like I said, when I’m tired, I totally give up. I did the Middlebury half again this past spring, for which I had actually trained (like, kind of intensely, for 10 weeks) because I wanted to break 2 hours, but it was way hillier than New York and I totally crashed around mile 11. I finished around 2:04. I’m actually really excited about this one since I’m wearing a totally different kind of shoe and know I’m slower than I was, so I’ve put no pressure on myself to PR.

About shoes, I’m not exactly sure which ones I’m going to wear on Saturday. I would love to race in my Runamocs, but I need to figure out what kind of surface we’re going to be running on. If it’s all pavement, great, but if not, I could be in for a somewhat painful ride. I could probably look this up in 2 seconds, but I’m too lazy. If I don’t wear my Runamocs, I’ll wear my Merrell Pace Gloves. The Pace Glove is somewhat minimalist, but it has almost zero ground feel and there’s a significant lift beneath the arch I don’t like. But they would make me run faster.

I’ve also decided to run without a watch and with my iPod turned off. I’ll have it with me in case of an emergency (ie. my feet refuse to move one in front of the other), but my first half I didn’t have music and like I said, that’s the fastest I’ve run a half to date. Granted, I was cursing the race director the entire time since it was the first time I had ever run a significant distance without music and everyone else seemed to have ignored the “no iPod rule” (amateur hour) but this past weekend I did 11 miles, 10 without music, and it was actually a pretty enjoyable experience. I’ll let you (and by you, I mean me, my only reader) know how it goes.

Sh-t, not enough photos this post… I’ll have to build up my arsenal of running-related photos so I can recycle them again and again. I’ve realized my phone isn’t going to hack it, so I may try to venture out with a camera. I thought about racing with a camera this weekend, but that would be dumb-I’m slow enough already, I don’t need to slow myself down even more by taking pictures of everything (“Oh, a tree, I need to take a picture so I’ll remember it forever!”).

I’m going to try to tone down the cussing and use dashes when I do so this blog comes off less like that of a mean old hag and more like that of a happy but occasionally sarcastic 20-something runner-type. Yay for family-friendly (ish)!

-Jeano

Blog Designing 101

Just wasted multiple hours messing with the blog layout and all that. My computer skills are disgusting. Someday I'll be able to blog with the best of them (well, I'll be able to blog). I still don't know what's going on, but at least it's not so generic. A momentous occasion!

Someone from Germany looked at my blog. What up, Germany?!

EDIT: my background photo was taken in the Sierras. My daddio and I went hiking there this past August. Places like that are the reason New York makes me stir crazy sometimes.

Have You Seen My Blog Name? Titles Aren't My Forte.

Aaaand we're off to a running start (see what I did there? Like I said, gems). 6 page views! I wonder if my looking at the page counts. If so, good job, me. Keep it up.

I started this blog on a whim, and last night after my computer charger died, I sat around wondering what to do with this thing now that I've got it. I'm not the briefest of people, and to be modest, I type like a madman. This combination could lead to some very wordy posts. I'll work on it. My extensive blog-viewing tells me that people like lots of mini-paragraphs, brevity, and inspiration. Oh, and pictures. Lots of pictures. Well, I can try to deliver on the pictures front. Not so sure about the others. If you're looking for an inspirational story, or a little optimism to start your day, you're not going to get that here. I'm not a great writer, certainly not a great runner, and I can promise you I will rarely be sentimental or sappy. Don't get me wrong, I'm a very happy person, but I'm also kind of a jaded bitch. I also cuss like a sailor, but I'll try to keep this blog PG-ish, with the occasional -13 and R thrown in the mix for some diversity.

So here's the deal: I'm Jean, I run, and I wear minimalist shoes. THESE shoes, to be exact:

I'll bet you couldn't tell I'm not actually standing here. I'm lying down with my feet against the wall-laziness, another endearing characteristic. And yes, those are compression sleeves. Guys are all over that hotfire elf-shoe/compression combo.

 

I know, barf, gag, gross, terrible, she's one of those freaks, yada yada... but really, I love minimalist running. I've been running for 3-4 years now and only made the switch 6 months ago. I'm one of those bullshit "miracle" cases where I used to experience intense hip pain when I ran, only to be magically healed when I changed my running style. Call it what you like ("she's a witch!"), but it works for me. This might be a good time to make it clear that I'm not one of those hateful minimalist runners who hates anyone who doesn't run like me. I just hate everyone! No, not really, I just hate assholes. Those are Softstar Runamocs, by the way. And with 6 blog views, you know they're paying me to say that. I was running in classic Vibrams, which are totally fantastic, but my friends shamed me into giving them up after I wore them to happy hour a few too many times (in their defense, my shoes smelled absolutely rancid). I decided to go with the 5mm Runamocs even though the ground feel isn't as great since winter is coming (WINTER IS COMING) and I wanted something with a bit more traction. So there you go, minimalism.

Until semi-recently, I didn't really understand blogs. Sure, I knew what they were, but I mostly thought they were a website designed to deliver Paul Krugman's gospel straight to me. My friend told me about Ali on the Run (should I link to that? No, too embarrassing. Go hit up her blog, though, it's awesome), I made fun of her for being obsessed with other people's lives, and was immediately hooked. Surprisingly enough, I love reading other runners' happy thoughts. But anyway, I don't understand how blogs work, so excuse this one's embarrassingly-basic setup until I have a chance to figure it all out. And I apologize again for the ridiculous title. Back in my gymnastics days (the "glory days") they called me "Jean, Jean the gymnastics machine," and that was the first thing that came to me. "Jean, Jean, the running machine" was too many syllables, so I went for the always-appreciated (not) Forrest Gump reference. Plus I got the word "run" in there not once, but twice, so you know I'm serious. Maybe I should figure out a way to incorporate it a third time...

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Too long. But I haven't even gotten to this morning's workout! I'm doing a half marathon this weekend in Annapolis (did you know people from Annapolis are called Annapolitans? The most interesting fact I could find about it) and had a quick tempo run on the training schedule. Like, really quick-the "tempo" part was shorter than the combined WU/CD, only 1 mile. I'm wicked fast and ran an entire mile in a whopping 7:54. I'll probably be a sponsored runner soon, nbd. This whole minimalism thing has made me slow as molasses, which I'm fine with, since running fast hurts and I'm lazy. I'm trying to keep an even 10:00 pace on Saturday, but this will be the first half I've done in minimalist shoes so I'm not expecting great things. I should probably look up the course profile at some point too. Or not.

A scene from my run. Not bad.

I try to use as little extra time as possible to do runs, so I usually do them during my commute to work. I live in Brooklyn now (collective groan), so I took the L to First Ave. and ran along the East River. It's no Alaska (home), but it's not the worst thing to look at while running. I hit 3 miles before I got all the way to work so walked the rest of the way. At one point, woman walking towards me suddenly got the most horrified look on her face, grabbed her crotch, and started hauling ass past me. I tend to have that effect on people.

Once at work, I tried (and mostly failed) to snap a picture in our sleek bathroom. My phone's being a twat so you're being deprived of my dark, blurry photo. Look forward to many more in the future.

Until next time!

Gotta Start Somewhere

I registered for a marathon today. My first thought was "holy shit, blog!" After some intense brainstorming, I settled on "Run Jean Machine Run." It pains me even to write it. Stay tuned for more gems like that one.


In celebration of me starting a blog, my computer charger broke. A sign of good things to come...